“Nope,” he said, with a smile that contradicted that at once, a smile that reflected a career-high 38 points and the first of, presumably, many, many times when he will take command of the heart of a game at Madison Square Garden and call it his own.

His teammates heard the chants. And while intellectually they know — as did the folks doing the chanting — that it’s a laughably premature sentiment, they also know who their meal ticket is.

“He should be an MVP,” said center Enes Kanter, who himself is becoming quite a Garden favorite, who teamed with Kyle O’Quinn to give the Knicks 27 points and 21 rebounds from the center position. “I’m just throwing it out there.”